Improvement



I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM o. FORD, or wEsT SALEM, orIIo.

CORN-PLANTERS.

Specification forming part of'Letters Patent No. 3I,966, dated April 9,1861.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM U. FORD, ot West Salem, in the county ofWayne and State"ot' Ohio, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Corn-Planters; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, referencebeing had t'o the annexed drawingsf .and to the letters ofreferencemarked thereon, t

in which- Figure 1 represents a plan of the machine with `its topremoved. Fig. 2 is an end view.

` Fig. 3 is a plan of the top. Figs. 4 and 5 represent the graiirslides.y

The nature of my invention consists in the employment and arrangementofcertain parts,

J represents a pinion,said pinion is secured to slide 't' by an uprightshaft, (seen in Fig. 2,) and is operated by a bevel cog-wheel on thedriving-wheel D. On the top of pinion J is a small pin or projection,the use of which will be more fully seen hereinafter.

frepresents the main rod, to which is connected the grain-slides m m, asseen in Fig. 1.

The peculiar manner in which these'slides are constructed is partiallyshown in Figs. 4 and 5. The bottom and top divison shouldbe cut out, asshown in Fig. 5, while the middle partition is provided with anaperture, as seen in Fig. 4.

d is a lever, and is pivoted to the main rod f. To the back part oflever d is secured lever w, and to lever :r is attached lever g by meansot' a cord. Under the back end of lever d should bea spring,`theadvantage ot' which will be seen more fully hereinafter.

` e represents a spring. Said spring should be bent down at rightangles, after it gets a little beyond leverQa, and extend through theframe of the machine, in order that there may be a slide or some otherconvenient arrangement beneath to hold the spring down, and thus preventit from acting `upon lever d l when it is desirable. This, however, willbe more definitely explained presently.

o represen ts a spiral spring around the main rodf, for the purpose offorcing said rod back to its proper place when the slides have performedtheir proper function.

A a is alever pi'voted in front tothe t'rame. It" then extends through amortise in the plow beam b,back to the discharge-spout o, to which it isattached. The beam of plow Y I) extends up through the frame, and isconnected thereto by means oi' a hoop and staple, as seen in Fig. 2. Thedischarge-spout c is provided at its bottom with a shoe, p, which isslightly turned up at its sides. Thus as the grain falls to t-he groundthis shoe turns the earth upon it'and coversit u p. Thek discharge-spout c surrounds a tube, which is fastened beneath the aperture inthe seed-box, (represented fully'iin Fig.2 or, in other words, it slidesupon this tube q. 'lhe beam of plow b and lever a are provided withholes in order that the height ot' plow b may be regulated.

It will be observed that, the lever a being attached both todischarge-spout c and plow b, their relative height or set will bealways the same.

y is a lever, which is connected to dischargespoutby means ofthe cord orwire u. Thus in uneven ground the operator can easily regulate both thedischarge-spout and plow b to any inequality of surface. a u representtwo grainregulators, which are pivoted at the bottom ot' seed-boxes E E.

The operation of Iny machine is as follows: The boxes E E being providedwith corn and the pinion j properly adjusted by means of lever h, motionis given to the machine. As the pinion revolves the little projectionstrikes leverd and forces it back over the spring e, thus moving theslides up to become charged with grain. The moment the machine arrivesat a spot in which the Vgrain is desired to be planted the operatorbears down upon lever g, which at once relieves lever a from springe,and the main rod f flies back to its proper place,'carrying the slideswith it, and thus depositing the grain at any particular spot; or, it'preferred, the spring e may be fastened down, so that it will not actupon lever a, and thus the machine can be made to drop at regular Iintervals. When ever it is desirable to stop the machine from working7the operator can do so either by throwing it out of gear by means oflever IL or he may allow the lever d to remain behind spring e, thuspreventing said lever to be operated upon by the projection on pinion J.A

Having thus described my invention, what I 1. Lever' a., plow I), andsliding discharge spoutc, when combined and operated in the manner andior the purpose set forth.

2. 'lhe combination oflever d, spring e, main rodf, and lever g, whenoperated in the manner and for the purpose described.

3. Grain-slides m m, regulators u n, main rodf, levers h, d, and Qspring e, and slide i, when lche whole shall be constructed, arranged,and operated in thel manner and for the purpose setJ forth.

WILLIAM C. FORD.

